Casing head



Feb. 9 1926;

w. A. TROUT ET AL CASING HEAD Filed April 11 1922 ATTORNEY".

Patented Feb. 9, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1, 12,052 PATENT OFFICE,

' WILLIAM A. TROUT AND CHARLES R. BUTLER, OF LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, AS- SIGNOBS OF ONE-THIRD T0 CHESTER A. RASMUSSENQ OF LONG BEACH, CALI- FORNIA.

CASING HEAD.

Application filed April 11, 1922. Serial No. 551,466:

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. Tnoor and CHARLES R. BU LER, citizens of the United States, residing at Long Beach, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have jointly lnvented new and usetul Improvements in Casing Heads, of which the tollowin is a specificatidn. V

This invention re ates to casing heads, and has for one of its objects the provision of a device ot this character which will positively revent gas blow-outs. Another object is the provision of a casing head so constructed and formed that its removal from tubing is unnecessary when it is desired to pass tools such as fishing tools throu h the tubin Another object is the provision of a casing head which does not depend upon the weight of the tubing for holding the various parts of said casing head in position.

Tn practicing the invention, we provide a casing head which may be formed in two parts, namely, a body portion and 'a cap portion. The body rtion is provlded with a tapered bore or a ortion thereof and a uniform bore, theuni orm bore being mi an internal diameter, equal to the internal diameter or the casing joined therewith. The tapered bore is adapted to recelve slip members. The body is provided with a flanged portion and the cap member is likewise flanged and provided with a central bore. The flan 'ed portion of the bod carries a series 0? annular gaskets. an said ilange oi the body and of the cap are provided with a series of perforations adapted to be aligned for the reception of bolts. The

lower end of the body is screw-threaded ex-- teriorly for reception of the collar menr her and the casing is likewise threaded exteriorly, whereb the collar may cooperate, not only with the threaded portion of the body but with the threads of the casing for holding the casing to the bodya The bore in the cap member is threaded for a portion and the well tube passes up through the casing and the body member and is screw threaded to the threaded portion in the cap.

Likewise the slips are provided with teeth adapted to engage the sides of the tubing for aid in maintaining the tubing in position within the body. A collar member is carried by the cap member and said collar member unites a further tubing member to the cap member, the said tubing member passing to a tank or pump. Openings are provided in the body portion for reception of pipes, which pi es allow communication with the interior 0 the casing, and whereby the pipes may conduct gas therefrom. Nuts are screw-threaded upon the bolts which connect the flanges of the cap and the body,

and it will thusbe seen that any gas pressure "within the casing must be conducted'through the gas tubes and cannot escape as between the body and the flange, owing to the rigid connection between the same and the gaskets. A notable difference between the present casing head and the conventional casing heads now on the market, resides in one particular, in that the packing is absolutely Independent of the tubing wall. Most casing eads have the acking wedged in between the lody of t e casing head and the tubing, and the weight of the tubing holds the packing in place. If the gas pressure becomes excessive it will lift the tubing upwardly, and the gas will then escape around the packing, and as the gas usually carries sand with 1t, the sand ra idly cuts away the packing with the result t at either an explosion or a disastrous fire almost always occurs. Furthermore, the present casing heads are so constructed that the head must be removed in order to fish for lost tubing through the casing. With our cas-' ing head it is only necessary to remove the tubing and the cap member and fishing tools may be inserted through the body of the casing head, as theinner diameter of the casing head is e ual to the inner diameter of the casing; nother advantage of our casing head over the resent form of casing head, resides in the act that if the tubing becomes sanded up or stuck, the tubin may be easily lowered or jarred by simp y rety, often if the well is sandedor stuck, a

same to part, and a bad fishing job results. With the above and other ob ects in view, the invention consists in the novel anduseful provision, construction, formation and V inter-relation of the-various parts, members pull upward on the tubing will cause the and features, as shown in the drawing, described in the following statement, and finally pointed out in claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of a casing head constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, and looking in the direction of the appended arrows; and I Figure 3 is aplan view of saidcasing head. 7 v i I Corresponding parts in all the figures are designated by the same reference characters.

Referring specifically to the drawing, the

" improved CfiSlDg hfifidQlS designated in its entirety and in one embodiment by A, and ofv which a is the body and b the cap member. The body a is provided at one end with a flan e 1 which is provided with a plurality o concentric grooves 2 adapted to receive gaskets or washers 3, which gaskets or washers project beyond the face ofthe flange 1, as shown at 4. The said body a is annular; that is to say, is provided with a bore 5, a portion of which adjacent the flange 1, is tapered, I as shown at 6, while a second portion as shown at 7 is uniform in diameter. The end as 8 of said body a is provided with taper threads 9 adapted to have screw-threaded thereon an annular memberor collar 10.- The said collardikewise acts to maintain a casing 11 in eooperation with the casing head A, as by threading said casing 11 exteriorly as shown at 12 v for engagement with the threads of the collar 10. The inner diameter or the annular gap of said casing is equal or nearly so to the annular gap of the bore portion'5 in ,thebody a. Obviously, the tapered bore 6 isof greater diameter than the annular gap in the casing adjacent the mouth thereof. The ca member 6 is annular in formation, which 1s to say, it is provided with a bore 13 which is tapered as at 14 and 15 adjacent the mouth portions. The surrounding walls of the tapered'portions 14 and 15 are screwthreaded. The cap I) is, provided with. a flange 16 and the-said flange 16 is formed with a plurality of spaced perforations or 'transverse openings 17. The flanged portion 1 of the body a is provided with correspondingly spaced perforations 18, and when said perforations 17 and 18 are in alignment bolt members 20 may be passed therethrough, with nuts 21 carried on'fthe threaded portions of said bolt Lmembers,

. whereby the members aand b may "be securely clamped together. A portion as 21 of said capb is provided with a taperedscrew thread adapted to carry a correspondingly internally threaded collar 22. One portion of said collar receives the screwthreaded extremity of atube 23. s

p In actual'assembly, the well tube 0 passes upwardly through the casing 11 within the the flanges of the members a and b. Segmental slip members d provided-with the usual teeth 25 are carried inth'e tapered bore of the body a, and said slips bite against the periphery of the tubing 0, as shown in Fi re 1. It will thus be seen that after the slips have been positioned, and the tubing securely held within the body a, the cap I)" may be screw-threaded upon the end 24 and the perforations in the flanges of the members a and b aligned, the bolts 17 passed therethrough, and the nuts 21 carried on said bolts tightened. This tightening action will of course wedge the face 26 of the flan e 16 against the gaskets 3' carried by the b0 y a. The body a. likewise is provided with tapered openings 27 communicating with the annular spaoeinsaid body, and

ducted through said pipes 28 either to a meter for registering the amount of gas pressure or to a gas tank forstorage or both. It is practically impossible for excessive gas. pressure, which often reaches several hundredtpounds per square inch, to lift the tubing 0 from its p0sition, nor for the gas to escape over or through the gaskets 3. As pointed out in the first part ofthis specification -it is ordinary practice to place the packing about the tubing and the weight of the tubing within the casing head main= tains the packing in position. If, then, the gas pressure within the casing is sufficient, that is, suflicient to lift the tubing, the packing, of course, will allow the gas to escape and it often happens that the tubing is lifted entirely from the well hole. Even, if

this does not happen, and the tubing is simply lifted a small distance, this will allow the gas to escape about the gaskets at such a rapid rate .that the sand carried by the gas will cut the packing away and the high velooity of the flowing gas will start a fire. of this is overcome by our casing head,asfthe gaskets are independent of thetubing, 'do not depend upon the weight of-the tubing for holding the same in place. Furthermore, the tubing if it becomes sanded up or stuck, may be easily dropped by removing the cap I) from the body a and lifting the slip members d slightly; It will thus be seen-that we have nowso prevalent; on oil fields. It is j vious-that-many changes,

modifiea lions and variations may be made in which modifications, however, may

practicin the invention, in departure from the speci 0 description of the device, all of be made within a fair interpretation of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus disclosed our invention, we

- claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A casing head including a vented body member having an interior bore merging into a conical bore opening at the upper end of the body, an offset flange carried by the bodyi: and a tubing string suspension cag mem er having an interior bore adapte to! threaded engagement with the well tubing string, and said cap memberalso including a flange coextensiye with and en gaging the flange on the body, fastenings piercing the flange of the cap and the flange of the body to prevent separation under gas pressure, and means for connecting' piping to the cap member at the upper end of the bore.

2. A casing head member having an interior bore, an offi set flange formed at the upper edge of the body, a cap member including a body having a central bore, means for rigidly conincluding a vented body meeting a string of well tubing to the cap member at the lower end of the bore whereby the tubing is held against 1ongitudinal movement with reference to the cap, and a flange formed on said cap for covering the open end of the body and said flange being coextensive with the flange on the body, and fastenings engaging said flanges and connecting the same to prevent separation of the cap and body.

3. A casing head including a vented body having an interior bore merging into a conical bore, a flange formed atthe upper end of the body and provided on its upper face with a groove for receivin packing, a cap member including a bod aving a central bore internally threads at its lower end thereby to receive and suspend a string of tubing, said cap body having a horizontal flange portion covering the open end of the body member and resting on the packing carried by the flange thereof, and fastening means en aging the cap member and said body mem r for securing the sametogether.

In testimony'whereof, we have signed our cification.

LLIAM A TROUT. CHAS. R. BUTLER,

names to this s 

